Better and Better bakery is just the thing I've been looking for - that is, a good place to work, close to my house with cheap coffee, free internet and a delicate balance of noise and calm (I don't want to be bored... but I don't want to be distracted). I have tried the overpriced café across the street (the noisy one), and the tiny library branch a few blocks away (the one with no wifi... God bless 'em). I have even tried the bakery seating section at Loblaws .

I wandered into Better and Better last week to ask them how long they'd be open, and they offered me a free sample of banana bread. I've been in there three times this week and there are always free samples of banana bread, sometimes with chocolate (this is the one I recommend). They'll even slip a sample onto your plate with the bagel or croissant that you ordered.

Just three weeks after opening, B&B already has a steady stream of regulars, really steady, and they're all buying banana bread. I took a whole loaf ($10) of it home the other day. Those samples are a delicious trick that leave people powerless to resist. They even come in a muffin size for $1.25 (in case you don't want to commit to an entire loaf). I'm certain the banana bread will lead to way more regular customers and ultimately, the end of the delicate noise/calm balance.

In the meantime, B&B is a perfect place to hang around and do work in. The wifi is reliable, the space is comfortable and the coffee is good. They brew Reunion Island coffee: quality but not too pricey. (Reunion makes a chocolate raspberry brew, good with cream, the only flavoured coffee I have ever enjoyed.)

Alyssa and I went in there Saturday morning. We arrived drenched from a sudden and violent downpour (which bega n the second we stepped outside and stopped the second we got inside). Getting rained on while getting to a bakery has become a reoccurring event...

In any case, a fresh and chewy bagel, toasted with cream cheese ($1.85) plus that ubiquitous choco-banana sample put us in pretty good moods (baked goods improving out moods is also a reoccurring event). We sat comfortably at a bar table by the window, stared out at Honest Ed's and sipped Reunion Island Colombian brew ($1.60) until we were dry and warm enough to trip home.

I returned a couple days later, un-drenched, and sat inside comfortably for a couple hours with tons of coffee and wifi, and a giant butter croissant ($1.45). Every morning since, I have woken up with Better and Better on my mind, especially since I know those free samples can't last forever.

Photos by Alyssa Bistonath